The Baring Securities Guide to International Financial Reporting

Book Description

This volume offers an exploration of successful organizational change -- through the use of a purposeful, product-oriented vision shared by all members. It stresses the four pillars of sociotechnical methodology -- systems, power, product, and purpose. For business managers, sociologists, and psychologists.

Customer Reviews:

Impossible Reading.......2000-06-22

In my 7 years of post secondary education, I can honestly say this is the worst book I've ever had to read.

Why?

1. The writing style is horiible. You'll have better luck understanding books on the synaptic reflexes of sub-Saharan lizards than you will this book. Many sentences are structured poorly and the authors' choice of words make understanding their point very difficult.

2. The Socio-Technical System (STS) described in the book is a complicated methodology to reengineer a company, division, etc. What it really is is a "MOTO" method - a Master Of The Obvious method. This is not to say that book doesn't have many good points about reengineering a system, it does. However, it complicates reasonable methods into an overall complex system that obscures their value.

3. In practical terms, the STS system described in this book is impossible to implement. Afterall, have you ever heard of STS before? Of course not... because it's not used in practice.

4. It's expensive, very expensive.

If you are hoping to learn more about reengineering, I would recommend another book. As much as I'd like to be able to offer one, I cannot, sorry.

If you have to read this for a college class, make sure you have plenty of time set aside since it will take you longer than you think.

Outstanding for organizational redesign and design........1999-03-08

This represents a one of a kind. Socio-Technical Systems has been around for a long time but never a better read if you are really interested in designing for performance. Taylor and Felten have a proven track record and have done a great job with a difficult subject. They take you through the process of design step by step with a case study of examples. It's focus on systems thinking and defining organizations as a living system helps us redefine our view of organizational life. For organizational development and training practitioners this book is a must read.

Performance By Design: Sociotechnical Systems in North America

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Performance By Design: Sociotechnical Systems in North America
James C. Ph.D.; Felten, David F. Taylor
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LZQB5C

Book Description

Every year about 130,000 km2 of humid tropical rain forest is destroyed. Caused in part by the slash-and-burn practices of both large- and small-scale farmers in Brazil, Cameroon, Indonesia, and elsewhere, the environmental implications of tropical deforestation and its threat to biodiversity and carbon emissions remain a worldwide concern. Yet the small-scale farmers who use slash-and-burn agriculture depend on it to produce food and make a living for their families. Balancing the legitimate interests of rural households and global concerns about tropical deforestation is one of the major challenges of the coming decades.

The Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ASB) consortium was formed in 1992 by a group of concerned national and international research institutions to address the global and local issues associated with this form of agriculture. With contributions from agronomists, foresters, economists, ecologists, and anthropologists, this book synthesizes the first decade of ASB's work. It assesses the environmental, economic, and social impact of deforestation and identifies the costs and benefits of alternative uses of forests and cleared land. Throughout the volume, the contributors present new conceptual tools and a rich compendium of empirical analyses needed to formulate viable alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture.

Customer Reviews:

The little landholders that could.......2006-02-18

As of 2005, one-half of the world's forests have been cut down. Slowing deforestation's a worldwide concern. Agonizing over what Virginia Tech calls the wildland-urban interface isn't an easily solved problem. Solutions affect the well-being of individuals, nations, nature, and the world. For cutting down forests clears lands of homes for animals, birds, bugs, and plants. It clears lands of necessary carbon and organic material. It clears the way for greenhouse gases.

Small landholders are usually blamed for clearing forests, because of overworked soils and their families' needing extra money and more food. The book's about the tropics in general and Brazil, Cameroon, Indonesia, Peru, and Thailand in particular. It finds, except for Cameroon, most deforestation's done by large landholders and migrants. Large landholders are always clearing forests, for more large-scale cattle ranching, commercial logging, and export farming. Successful land use draws migrants. Migrants clear forests, because colonists, large landholders, settlers, and squatters fill the available space.

So forests are cut down, because deforestation's profitable, and there's no obviously workable choice. Not much can be done about large landholders. How they use their lands is linked to the world market. They export their cash crops, cattle ranching products, timber, and wood products. So how they use their lands makes their countries part of the world market community of trade, technology, money, and credit.

But small landholders use their lands to support their families and sell to local markets. How can they do otherwise than grow garden vegetables and food crops? They're trapped by high transportation costs and poor transportation means. They work soils low in nitrogen and phosphorous but high in aluminum. They can't afford lime treatments; fertilizers; and engineered, instead of local, seedlings. Local market prices tend to be low. So when they need more money, they try off-farm work and illegal logging.

SLASH-AND-BURN AGRICULTURE suggests another money-maker. Why not pay small landholders not to clear forests? But tropical countries can't pay for that or for making sure forests won't be cleared. They need any extra money to be spent on better roads, job opportunities, housing, health and education. So why not get the money from the world market community? The entire world benefits from slowed-down deforestation.

Editors Cheryl A Palm et al organize the book well. The chapters give clear examples, facts, illustrations, and references, along with some guesses and suggestions. The writing gets a bit academic. But the contributing writers still bring us up to speed on how, what, when, where, who, and why of slash-and-burn deforestation.

Slash-and-Burn Agriculture: The Search for Alternatives.: An article from: The Geographical Review

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Slash-and-Burn Agriculture: The Search for Alternatives.: An article from: The Geographical Review
David Kummer
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Geographical Review, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1192 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Slash-and-Burn Agriculture: The Search for Alternatives.
Author: David Kummer
Publication: The Geographical Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 96 Issue: 1 Page: 173(3)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Slash and Burn Agriculture - The Search for Alternatives

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Slash and Burn Agriculture - The Search for Alternatives
C Palm
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPITSQ

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Slash-and-burn Agriculture: The Search For Alternatives
Cheryl A.; Vosti, Stephen A.; Sanchez, Pedro A.; Ericksen, Polly J. Palm
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPMMA2

Book Description

1925. With 19 illustrations and diagrams. From the Books on Popular Science Series. Among writers for boys on science, easily the most skillful is Mr. Gibson. He writes so clearly, simply and charmingly about the most difficult things that his books are quite as entertaining as any ordinary book of adventure. Mr. Gibson has a first-rate scientific mind and considerable scientific attainments. He is never guilty of an inexact phrase-certainly, never an obscure one-or a misleading analogy. We could imagine him having a vogue among young folk akin to that of Jules Verne. Contents: A Trip to the Moon; An Alarming Adventure; What the Moon Really Is; A Strange Thing Happens; About the Different Shapes of the Moon; How Does the Moon Stick Up in the Sky?; What Makes the Tide Go Out and Come In?; Our Nearest Neighbors in Space; A Curious Planet and a Giant One; Are there People Living on Mars?; Of What is the Sun Made?; More about the Sun and Moon; About the Stars; How we Photograph the Stars; and A Birds-eye View.

The Stars and Their Mysteries an Interestingly Written Account of the Wonders of Astronomy Told in Simple Language

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The Stars and Their Mysteries an Interestingly Written Account of the Wonders of Astronomy Told in Simple Language
Charles R. Gibson
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0548033536

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The Stars and Their Mysteries: An Interestingly Written Account of the Wonders of Astronomy, Told in Simple Language
Charles R. Gibson
Manufacturer: J B LIPPINCOTT CO
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000TLR6PM

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Electroplating And Electrorefining Of Metals
Alexander Watt , and Arnold Philip
Manufacturer: Merchant Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1933998148

Book Description

This unique resource examines the conceptual, computational, and practical aspects of applied signal processing using wavelets. With this book, readers will understand and be able to use the power and utility of new wavelet methods in science and engineering problems and analysis. The text is written in a clear, accessible style avoiding unnecessary abstractions and details. From a computational perspective, wavelet signal processing algorithms are presented and applied to signal compression, noise suppression, and signal identification. Numerical illustrations of these computational techniques are further provided with interactive software (MATLAB code) is available on the world wide web. Topics and Features: * Continuous wavelet and Gabor transforms* Frame-based theory of discretization and reconstruction of analog signals is developed* New and efficient "overcomplete" wavelet transform is introduced and applied* Numerical illustrations with an object-oriented computational perspective using the Wavelet Signal Processing Workstation (MATLAB code) available This book is an excellent resource for information and computational tools needed to use wavelets in many types of signal processing problems. Graduates, professionals, and practitioners in engineering, computer science, geophysics, and applied mathematics will benefit from using the book and software tools.

Customer Reviews:

good book with programming.......2002-03-11

as i feel this book covers the fundamentals needed for
proper understanding of wavelets. then it clearely brings
out the topics such as mra, filter bank approaches along
with matlab programs using which one can actually generate
and feel the wavelet concept. in this way the book creates
interest in the reader. Along with this one can also
use wavelets by gopinath and barrus or by goswami.

This book is well thought out and "clear" in explanations........1999-01-14

First let me say this is an excellent book for a graduate class about Wavelets! As a Doctoral Student I have limited funds, but this book I had to purchase, and did. I've used Wickerhauser, Strang & Nguyen, Cohen, and other texts for my references but yours is well thought out and "clear". The chapter about Over Complete Wavelets and the Matlab GUI makes this a complete guide to wavelets.

Book Description

On his first day in basic training in 1942, Lawrence Cane wrote his wife Grace from Fort Dix, New Jersey. "I'm in the army now?really!" he wrote, complaining, "I don't have enough time to write a decent letter."Three years later, Capt. Lawrence Cane went home from World War II. He'd landed at Utah Beach on D-Day, helped liberate France and Belgium, and survived the Battle of the Bulge. He won a Silver Star for bravery. And he still managed to write 300 letters home to Grace. This book is a different kind of war story--both an powerful chronicle of life in battle and a unique portrait of courage fueled by a life-long passion for political justice.Cane's fight for freedom began well before D-Day. In 1937, joined the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and got wounded fighting for democracy in Spain. In 1942, at age 30, he enlisted in the new war against fascism, and as an officer with the 238th Combat Engineer Battalion, went ashore in Normandy to clear mines, destroy fortifications, and open roads from Normandy to the Siegfried Line. Of the 400 Spanish Civil War veterans in World War II, Cane was the only one to go ashore on D-Day.After the war, Lawrence Cane fought for civil rights and peace until his death in 1976. Discovered in 1995 by Cane's son David, his letters are not only classic accounts of war and unforgettable expressions of love for family. They are the fiercely patriotic words of a left-wing, working-class New York Jew (and one-time Communist Party member) who knew exactly why we fought---to create a better world by destroying all forms of fascism, one battle at a time.With a fascinating introduction by David Cane, detailed notes, and much additional material, these letters add a new dimension to the meaning of American patriotism and an invaluable chapter to the history of "the greatest generation."

Customer Reviews:

A True American Hero.......2004-09-23

Many years ago, when doing research for my graduate thesis on those heroic Jews who went to fight Hitlerism in Spain, I came across the name of Larry Cane. While I was able to make contact with many vets in the Lincoln Battalion, sad to say, Mr. Cane had passed on before I had a chance to contact him. His obituary told of his valor, and of his idealism, and while he was, yes, a member of the Communist Party USA while in Spain and serving heroically in the United States Army in World War II, Larry Cane had the intellectual honesty to walk away from the horrendous Stalinist sewer once he was aware of its true evil.

His son is to be profusely thanked for releasing this correspondence of a man - yes, a Leftist, but whose Jewish background, perhaps even more so than his CP affiliation, made this man - a decision to fight evil and oppression and believe in the unity of all mankind. Cane writes movingly of the D-Day Battle, of coming across emanciated Jewish concentration camp survivors in Germany, of his pride in America, of being a Jew, and yes, of being a Communist and pride in the Soviet Union as the ally that it was (of course then being unaware of what a murderous fascist Joe Stalin really was). He writes of the common soldiers that he served alongside with, and there is correspondence from some of them that attest to Cane's own bravery in battle. And he writes of his love of his family and of the baby son who now has been able to bring this unique correspondence to publication.

Larry Cane earned the Silver Star and a Battlefield Commission to the rank of Captain in the United States Army for his heroism on the battlefields of France after D-Day, and for his role in helping to smash the Hitlerian evil. A worthy read for all Americans interested in our "Greatest Generation" - and in the unique experiences of those who bravely chose to fight Hitlerism in Spain before the world recognized what was at stake for all mankind.

An excellent book.......2003-05-09

this book is sensitively written and full of fascinating details, which bring the history alive.

A veteran's view.......2003-03-17

This book kept my interest cover to cover. Lawrence Cane is obviously the epitome of a soldier and family man, the essense of the American service man in W.W. 2. From basic training thru the occupation of Germany,he was a man who had not only to fight for his place in the war ,but then to fight the war from the first wave to hit the beach on Normandy,to the liberation of the concentration camps, to time spent in the rebuilding of Germany in Eisleben.

Book Description

In July 1991, the author underwent a surgical sex change from a man to a woman. The surgery was performed (in Trinidad, Colorado) by Stanley Biber, M.D., dean of sex change operations. This work begins at the time Ms. Griggs decided to pursue the surgery and continues through her recovery. Though the procedure altered the author's body, poignantly accounted for also is the mental transformation.

Book Description

This first full-length treatment of Russell Kirk's life and accomplishments blends new biographical insights and critical perspectives about the author of the ground-breaking The Conservative .

Customer Reviews:

Good survey of Kirk and his writings.......2004-02-09

Russell Kirk (1918-1994) was a man of letters and a leader among traditional conservative writers and commentators. From his village home in Mecosta, Michigan he turned out scores of books, essays, articles and reviews on the history of political philosophy and on contemporary education, literary criticism, social/cultural criticism and economics. He even wrote short stories and novels in the gothic--ghost story genre. James E. Person, Jr., author of this volume, presents a brief biographical summary of Kirk's life and then discusses the various facets of Kirk's writings and philosophy. This volume should serve as an especially good introduction for those unfamiliar with Kirk. For those, such as myself, who have read
some of Kirk's books and other writings, it offers a good perspective on the entire Kirk canon. Those readers who are well acquainted with Kirk and his work can find here a helpful review. It includes a selected bibliography of Kirk's main writings and also a selected bibliography of other sources Person used in preparing this study of Kirk.

The Custodian of Western Civilization.......2003-06-28

Russell Kirk (1918-1994) was probably the premier conservative "man of letters" in 20th century America. He first gained national attention in 1953 with his publication of the CONSERVATIVE MIND. Kirk was the author of a large number of works, including history, literary criticism, cultural analysis, fiction, and even an economics textbook.

A central problem with understanding Kirk is the somewhat opaque nature of his writings. While it's easy to see what Kirk is against, it isn't always easy to see why, or what his solution to current political and cultural problems was. Perhaps because of this, Kirk is seldom quoted these days, and there hasn't been much in the way of secondary studies on his thought.

James Person has written a reliable overview of Kirk's thought (which also contains a modest biography of sorts). Person organizes this work thematically, hitting on the key areas of Kirk's thought (including discussions of his fiction, as well). My only gripe is that the book could have used a bit more editing. Sentences tend to drag on, and some of the writing is a bit "chatty" for a scholarly work. (Mr. Person hasn't heard of Orwell's rule about not using two words when one will do.)

In light of the current "conservative wars" I found portions of this book (published in 1999) quite interesting. I didn't know that Kirk's last foray into politics was in 1992 when he was chairman of Pat Buchanan's Michigan campaign. It's not surprising that Kirk is ignored by the neocon nitwits who run the conservative movement today. There is also an interesting story about how Kirk was attacked by certain Straussian neocons concerning his criticisms of Lincoln. Although Kirk disagreed with much of Lincoln's agenda, he called Lincoln a "conservative" and a "great man." Much to the consternation of the neocons, anything less than total support of King Abraham wasn't good enough.

A must read.......2000-05-01

Anyone who is interested in conservatism must read this biography of the man who articulated the conservative philosophy in post WWII America.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, published by Institute on Religion and Public Life on May 1, 2000. The length of the article is 1450 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: RUSSELL KIRK: A CRITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF A CONSERVATIVE MIND.(Review) (book review)
Author: Jeremy M. Beer
Publication: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life (Refereed)
Date: May 1, 2000
Publisher: Institute on Religion and Public Life
Page: 53

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Development Co-Operation Reviews: Denmark 1999 (Development Cooperation Reviews, 33)
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development
Manufacturer: Organization for Economic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

International | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9264170707

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